Boleto

Boleto, short for boleto bancário, is a payment method used in Brazil. It is a standardized payment slip, issued through a bank on behalf of a business or other payee, that carries the amount, a due date, the payee's details and a barcode. The payer settles it at any bank branch, cash machine or authorized outlet, or by entering its number in a banking app. The method is regulated by the Central Bank of Brazil and its standards are maintained by the Brazilian Federation of Banks, known as Febraban.

Boleto is used for utility bills, rent, school fees, taxes, business invoices and online shopping. It became important to e-commerce because it lets people without a card or even a bank account buy online and pay in cash. It is a local payment method of the voucher payment type, comparable to OXXO payments in Mexico.

A business that wants to collect by boleto signs an agreement with a bank or a payment provider. For each sale or bill, a slip is generated with a unique identifying number, a 44-digit barcode and a 47-digit typed line that represents the same data in a form a person can key in. The slip is given to the payer as a printed page, a PDF or a screen in the checkout.

The payer then has several ways to pay it.

• In cash. The slip is presented at a bank branch, a lottery outlet or a banking correspondent such as a shop or post office, where the barcode is scanned.
• Through a bank. The payer scans the barcode or copies the typed line into internet banking, a mobile app or a cash machine, and the amount is debited from the account.
• By authorized electronic presentment. Account holders registered for the banks' electronic bill service see boletos issued against their taxpayer number in their banking app and can approve them without receiving the slip, a form of electronic bill presentment and payment.

The paying institution passes the payment through interbank clearing to the bank that issued the slip, which credits the payee and reports the payment.

Boleto is an asynchronous payment method. The merchant issues the slip and waits; the customer may pay within minutes, days later or never. After payment, confirmation generally reaches the merchant within one to three business days, because the transaction passes through bank clearing. Online merchants therefore hold the order until confirmation arrives, and a meaningful share of slips issued in e-commerce are never paid.

Each slip has a due date. Depending on how the payee has configured it, a boleto paid late may carry a fine and interest calculated automatically, or may no longer be accepted. Once paid, a boleto cannot be reversed by the payer in the way a card payment can through a chargeback, which makes it attractive to merchants. A refund has to be sent separately by bank transfer.

The payee pays a flat fee to its bank or provider for each slip paid, and in some arrangements for each slip registered. The fee does not vary with the amount, so boleto is cheap for large payments compared with the percentage charged on a credit card sale. Merchants often offer a discount for boleto payment for this reason. The payer normally pays nothing beyond the amount shown.

Originally a boleto could be produced without the banking system knowing of it until it was paid. Fraudsters exploited this by sending fake slips or by using malware that altered the barcode on a genuine slip so that payment went to another account. In response, the banks introduced a central collection platform, phased in around 2017 and 2018, on which every boleto must be registered when issued, with the payer's and payee's taxpayer numbers. The paying bank looks the slip up at the time of payment, which confirms the amount and beneficiary, allows overdue slips to be paid at any bank with charges calculated automatically, and prevents the same slip from being paid twice.

Fake boletos sent by email or messaging remain a common scam, and banks advise payers to check the beneficiary name shown before confirming.

The launch of Pix, the central bank's instant payment system, in November 2020 gave Brazilians a free, immediate way to pay from a bank account by scanning a QR code. Pix has taken over much of the person-to-person and online shopping use for which boleto was once the main non-card option, since it confirms in seconds. Boleto remains widely used for recurring bills and business-to-business invoices, where due dates, automatic late charges and established accounting processes matter. Many slips now carry a Pix code alongside the barcode, so that the payer can choose either route.

International merchants selling to Brazil usually offer boleto through a payment provider with a local entity, which issues slips in Brazilian reais, collects the funds locally and remits them abroad after currency conversion. Boleto extends reach to customers who are unbanked or lack an internationally enabled card, at the cost of delayed confirmation and more complex payment reconciliation.

• Banco Central do Brasil
• Febraban